November’s congressional matchup to be set after Tuesday

Steve Fought will take on U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson for the 8th Ohio Congressional District seat on Nov. 8, but he first needs to be formally nominated to be the Democratic Party’s candidate.

That happens Tuesday during the Democratic special primary election when the first certified voter casts his or her ballot for the 62-year-old Mercer County native.

Fought is set to replace former Democratic Party congressional candidate Corey Foister, who dropped out of the race 107 days before the election. State law mandates a special election to replace a congressional candidate, even if just one person is seeking the party’s re-nomination.

This special election is estimated to cost the six counties in the 8th Congressional District around $500,000. A special June 7 election, in which Davidson easily defeated Foister, cost taxpayers more than $506,000.

Davidson said he’ll look forward to the November election and engage more people in the political process. He told the Journal-News he’ll continue to do what he did in the March primary and June special general election — meet the constituents of Butler, Clark, Darke, Mercer, Miami and Preble counties and “building a lot of new relationships.”

“Elections are important and I’ll be on the ballot again and will be continuing to ask for their votes again,” he said.

Fought, a former communications director and legislative director for U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, joked at a recent Hillary Clinton office opening in Hamilton that he “feels pretty good about his chances” in the special election.

Fought, a former newspaper reporter, said the middle class “is getting squeezed harder” today than a decade earlier.

“It used to be people thought, ‘Will my children have a better life? Will they be more prosperous?’ Now they’re ridden by anxiety, they’re worried about falling from middle class into poverty,” Fought said. “We’ve got it backwards and we have to turn that around, and the only way we can do that is with government playing a positive role.”

Fought said he wants to put his education — he’s earned two masters degrees and a law degree — and his 15 years of experience working as a congressional aide “and be the best representative the 8th District’s ever seen.”

“I’ll work as hard as I possibly can to deliver to this area and help this country turn it around,” he said.

VOTING

Polls in Tuesday’s special 8th Ohio Congressional District primary to nominate a replacement Demcoratic Party candidate are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.